jennlk | Random burblings... (Reply)

So, a lot of nothing has been happening since I last wrote. OK, not so much nothing, as not much to write about. In more or less chronological order:

I had a birthday, and a birthday 'party'. Which is to say that my mum came out on Labor Day for the family traditional Labor Day picnic, and she brought a berry pie for a cake.

The kids went back to school. SR has stuff going on before school three days a week until the end of football season. (Once football season ends, she's down to one day a week early.)

I ordered a new car, to replace the van for everyday driving. I can't drive the Taurus very much -- it makes my back hurt, and I really don't want to see either of my back docs again for a while (if ever). I was originally looking at a Focus (yes, the trunk is big enough for the bari sax), but the option pack we wanted wasn't going to be available until December, so I upgraded to a Fusion. If I'd wanted one with an automatic, I could have bought one off the lot, but I wanted a stick, so it had to be ordered. Should be in sometime in late October.

Mum accepted an offer on the house. Her apartment will be available on October 28. It's much smaller than the house. Sometime between now and then, we (as in my sis, Mum, and I) have to go through everything in the house and decide where it's going. There's a lot of stuff. Dad's woodshop has been cleared out, but the tools in the garage and shed are still to be sorted, and there's a large house full of furniture that needs to be allocated. She's moving to a senior center, and they have a crew that handles the throw away/sell sorting of things that we're not keeping (and runs the sale!), so at least we don't have the spectre of an estate sale looming. I've been over a couple of times, and claimed a few things that my sister hasn't. So far, there's only been a few things that we both want (unfortunately, she got to the Pogo books first, and we're not going to split the set).

J and I need to go back, and go through the books and the tools and the objêts d'art. We haven't done it yet for a couple of reasons. One is that he needed to get the basement finished at least far enough that I could get a functional sewing area up -- DB needs a new Halloween costume, and SR and I would both like new ones. Yesterday, he got enough of the vinyl tile down that we could dig the tables out of the stash and get something set up. It's nowhere near fully functional, but there's a cutting table and both machine tables and the ironing board and the iron. The other reason is that DB has been home from school since last Wednesday (nasty cold -- cranky and bleary for days). He went back today, so maybe one day this week we can get out there.

FCB rehearsals started last Monday. Our first concert is Sept 30. Yipe? There is no tuba (the trio from last year has scattered -- two are in school (one is an undergrad, one is gone back for a masters) and one had a job related move), so the bass line is me and one or two bassoons. Yipe. Last night I was late (for me) to rehearsal, and decided that I wasn't going to try to squeeze into my usual spot, so I set up in the back, where the tubas used to be. It's rather surprising how much different the band sounds from back there. And it's very apparent that this is only my second year playing the bass line. I played tenor sax for years, and the parts are very different, and I'm still not used to reading the bass part. It's getting better, but still....

Due to insufficient reluctance on my part, I'm now the layout editor for the Chelsea Music Boosters newsletter. go me. I will, however, refuse to be managing editor. I'll deal with laying the text out, and getting the files to the printer, but no more than that.

SR starts Drivers' Ed this week. Tonight is the Orientation meeting. It's weird, knowing that my 'little girl' is now old enough to drive.

Church choir started last week. OK, so last week it was a quartet, and it will never be more than seven, all women. (yeah, it's a small church.) We're supposed to sing every week -- for the last couple of years we've only done an "anthem" (usually a hymn or a something from the songbook, rarely anything else) once or twice a month, but that's supposed to change. We'll see how that goes.

Froggies!! We've got frogs in the pond (a mix of Northern Leopards and Greens, I think). It's sooo cool. At one point, SR and I counted 13, but I think some of them have left -- I only counted 8 yesterday. The cats discovered 'the things that go bloop' a few weeks ago, and one of them has taken to hanging out next to a stand of ornamental grass next to the pond and just watching the frogs move around (as a bonus, she can see a bird feeder from there, and the birds don't see her!). Another one tried to chase the frogs for a few days, but decided that there wasn't any way she could catch one without getting her paws wet, and has resigned herself to watching from a rock next to the pond. I haven't tried getting pictures, because that's a sure way to get them to 'bloop' away.